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Date Published: 25/10/2023

Suspected bird and animal poisoning in Cartagena and Los Alcazares

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Local animal lovers are warning pet owners to beware following a spate of intoxications

Suspected bird and animal poisoning in Cartagena and Los Alcazares

Imagine opening your front door to find a dead bird in the garden. Not very pleasant at the best of times, even if you did chalk it up to a thoughtful gift from the cat. But what if there was not one bird, but half a dozen of them, and not just once but every day?

That’s what life has been like for expat John Snow, who lives in the Cartagena village of La Aparecida, population less than 1,000.

Over recent days and weeks, John has been appalled to discover mounds of doves and other birds scattered over his land, and he thinks he knows who’s behind it.

“I live in an urban town area with many hectares of farm land near my home,” he explains. “This farm area was originally orange groves covering an expansive area. About 4 years ago it used to support many species of small wildlife and birds. However, all the orange trees were uprooted and the area is now used for vegetables that obviously return a higher profit for the farming sector but do not support any wildlife at all.”

To help protect the new seedlings and vegetables, John says, farmers in his local area have resorted to installing various loud butane gas cannons to scare the birds away, which also causes problems with domestic pets living in the town.

“Our family dog hides beneath the bed in fear,” laments John.

Many of the local birds have found refuge from the farmers and their cannons on John’s property, which has “various trees with shade and a pond for birds to drink and survive, especially during summer time”.

Alas, not everyone is so pleased about this bird haven, and John claims that the adjoining farmer comes early in the morning to clap his hands and shoo away the wild birds from his property.

“I asked what he thought he was doing and why,” relates John. “The farm worker said the doves are destroying his lettuce crop and he was chasing them for that reason. I told him to stop and go away and leave my property alone. I have never seen doves, sparrows and finches eat lettuce or create a farming concern that I am aware of.”

It appears John’s efforts didn’t work, and instead of backing off the farmer next door resorted to more extreme tactics.

“The next day, I saw the farmer throwing stones at doves sitting on an electric cable over his farm and none were actually seen in the fields,” he says. “I said nothing.”

But things escalated, and a week later John noticed that the doves had started dying and falling out of the trees “at a rate of about 3 to 5 a day”.

He quickly ruled out the possibility of the birds suffering from some sort of virus as he could find no cases among his many neighbors in other parts of the town. His next suspicion was that the birds were eating something toxic from close to where they nest.

John didn’t hesitate to call the Guardia Civil’s Environmental protection arm, SEPRONA, and to request a professional report on the dead birds from the University of Murcia’s Toxicology department, on the advice of his local vet.

However, despite repeated calls and emails to SEPRONA, John had no response from police whatsoever, and the toxicology report – which would cost him 278 euros from his own pocket – apparently could not be completed “due to broken equipment”. If there is some small consolation, it is that the 278 euros was at least not charged from his account.

But the dead birds he provided as evidence may have now been compromised, he alleges, while suspecting that there may be a “conflict of interest” between those meant to carry out the tests and those who he suspects of being behind the deaths.

This is by no means the only case of poisoning of animals, and in nearby towns like Los Alcázares, animal loving members of the public have resorted to putting up warning notices on lampposts and telegraph poles about the issue.

One person in Los Alcázares with a 1-year-old cat was also poisoned and died from rapid liver failure, and all the while more birds are falling sick and dead on the floor with cats and dogs picking them up in their mouths and eating parts of them.

“I am asking please for some control and publicity to stop the crimes that appear evident against wildlife, water polluting and pets that get affected in a negative way,” pleads John. “If we want to see birds flying in our skies and our pets without possible poison threats, we need to try work together and get some truths from those of us that care enough to limit what is good or bad for our joint environment.”

John is determined to get to the bottom of the case of the dead birds on his property, regardless of any potential reprisals from local farmers and authorities trying to shut him up.

“We all need to stand up and be counted for what is right and wrong. I can’t let this continue with weak excuses from those that are in powerful places.”

Images: John Snow

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