Dead animals cropping up in North Richmond
WRIC-TV8 News reports that an unusual number of dead squirrels, chipmunks and birds are showing up in grassy areas — yards and medians — throughout North Richmond.
Resident Cathy Cooper says she’s found five dead animals on her property alone. But the strange thing is, none of them had trauma to their bodies and all appeared to be healthy.
Cooper tells us, “I’m a physician, so I thought these animals aren’t traumatized. They look perfectly fine. It really looked like maybe they were poisoned.”
Cooper decided to get online with neighborhood news groups to see if anyone else noticed a problem and that’s when a pattern emerged. She tells us residents reported a total of six dead squirrels, five chipmunks, and 10 to 15 birds in the last two weeks.
We are told all of the animals were found in Laburnum Park, Ginter Park and Bellevue along roads with large grassy medians…
…The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries issued a request to residents to bag and ice any freshly dead animals so that they can determine what’s killing them.
Geez, that’s creepy. We found two dead birds in our yard this past month or so. I think one died after he was caught in the strawberry netting (which we removed), but the other one was on the grass next to the bird feeder.
Wow! We just moved in and were at first so pleased with the pleasantness of all the wildlife we found in our yard. Unfortunately, we soon thereafter found 3 dead birds in our yard as well. I was very concerned, but didn’t know that it was an issue the whole neighborhood was facing. Thanks so much for the info. We’ll do our best to keep an eye out.
Wish I’d heard about this sooner. Last Friday I found a dead RAT in my yard–appeared to have gotten into some poison or something. And then Monday a.m. there was a dead bird in the driveway. Neither of these appeared to have any obvious damage. I wish I’d known that this was occurring elsewhere on the northside; I would have bagged them! I am not in the areas mentioned; I’m over near Bryan Park and Lakeside.
Found three dead birds within a block and a half on the way to Captain Buzzy’s coffee shop in Church Hill. Two were in various stages of decomposition but one looked in perfect condition other than lying on it’s back stiff.
My husband said that he too has seen lots of dead birds recently.
I am a Lakeside resident. A dead squirrel was found in front of my house, one month ago. A dead bird was found on my back deck, just yesterday. No obvious trauma. I’ll know what to do next time. Thought I’d pass this on also. My two children and I walk to Bryan Park several times a week. Two weeks ago, right after the 100 degree temps, we came upon a large dead animal on the way to the playground. Besides the foul stench, the fact that it lay there in close distance to children and picnic areas alarmed me. I called the city’s animal control and told them it seemed to have been there for quite some time. I couldn’t describe it except for the short coarse brown hair. Never seen anything like this before. It looked to have suffered some trauma, though. I believe they finally removed it. This week we saw police tape surrounding the area of leftover fur. Police tape always raises questions. I assured park visitors that it wasn’t what they thought. Some feared the worst. Not in Bryan Park! Not anymore! Love North Richmond. (I just found this website today). Juae 21.
Was the large animal bigger than a dog? Maybe it was a bear.