BIG PROBLEM

[Valkie]

i need help and quickly.

here is the situation:

3 weeks ago: the president of our clubs musket african gos drops dead, for the few hours before, it was as if he didnt know where his feet is. he kept overbalancing, and didnt seem to be able to grab anything with his feet. there was no weight loss, and no loss of appetite. this happened 200km from where i live

Monday: i posted about my tiercel kes dying at the rehab centre. he had the same symptoms.

tuesday: a guys black spar shows the same symptoms, but it is saved, the vets have no idea what went wrong. this also happened 200k's both from me and the first occurence.

today: a common buzz at the centre is flying around in her mew. a few birdclub people are watching her. she lands on a perch, seems to overbalance and dies.

please can anyone help me, all these birds where perfectly healthy weight and appetite wise.

[waterbug]

It sounds somewhat similar to my sponsors coopers hawk that just fell over dead a few years ago, and was just a few days off the trap. The bird stopped gripping the perch before she died. Her best guess was that she ate a poisoned starling.

[raptrlvr]

Could it be West Nile Virus? Have the birds been checked for that? We have had several cases here in the states with the same symptons.

[Master Yarak]

I am uncertain exactly what it is. Encephalitis (swelling in the brain) causes those symptoms. Factors for it are all neurological. Poisons such as airborne pesticides have killed many Raptors. West Nile Virus is carried only by a very few species of mosquito. Dehydration is also prevalent in the symptoms of WNV. A post mortem would be the only way to be certain. Let us know.
Yarak

[Valkie]

thanks, i also thought west nile virus, but we are waiting for a response from the vets. waterbug, al three birds have been under falconry conditions for quite a while, the kestrel and the buzz for a year, the afgos is a CB bird, and has been flown for four weeks, and the spar is an imprint. so it isnt stress, but i'll keep you updated, the cr#$ thing is, i cant go and pick up my gabar gos until this is sorted out

o yes, it is africa, think of a disease and we have it here somewhere. i would rule pesticides out due to the distances between the occurences, and the amount of other birds that stayed healthy. all the birds died after the first rain, and we had more rain the week before the incident than we had the whole of last year, so we have alot of mozzies

[jake34705]

thats very weird. i will ask my sponsor tomorow. his wife is a certifide vet tech and might be able to help.