27 Jan, 2018 7:30am
NZ Herald
Dead gulls found near Grovers
Island, in the Clutha River near Roxburgh in Central Otago, will be tested to
establish their cause of death.
Mykayla Robert, of Roxburgh,
found the gulls while she was walking last weekend.
Posting on Facebook, Miss Robert
commented that she was not sure how they died.
"I found at least 30-40 dead
seagulls on that little island, mainly on the Clutha River side," Robert
said.
Robert took pictures of the dead
gulls.
"As you can see, there was
one or two seagulls every metre right along the shore line," she said.
Department of Conservation (Doc)
senior ranger, biodiversity, for Central Otago John Keene said a Doc ranger
investigated the site that day and estimated up to 40 black-billed gulls were
dead.
The ranger did not see any
obvious signs on the carcasses of damage from animal predators, Mr Keene said.
The area was known for being a
breeding colony site for black-billed gulls, an endangered species.
This was the second time
mysterious deaths at the colony had been discovered, he said.
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