Residents were baffled when they found around 20 ‘decapitated’ birds in Scotland.
A cluster of houses beside an industrial estate on the north bank of the River Forth have become a site of mystery since the December 30 discovery.
Nothing like this has been seen before in Harbour Way, Alloa, a town of 14,000 people in Clackmannanshire, where the river becomes the Firth of Forth.
One resident, who asked to stay anonymous, told Alloa Advertiser: ‘In over seven years staying in the Harbour Way area, I have never seen scenes that I have just witnessed this morning.
‘Occasionally, over the previous years, a bird will be found dead in the water, but 15-20 dead birds of different breeds, all decapitated and deposited on the silt indicate such a macabre ritual to the suffering and death of the birds. Very strange.’
The Scottish Government has now launched into whether the dead animals had bird flu.
Avian flu has many symptoms, including a swollen head, twisting head or neck, and drooping wings.
But the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) does not list headlessness among them.
The Scottish government has not explained why they are testing the birds for avian flu, or why they may have been found ‘decapitated’.
A spokesperson told the Advertiser: ‘As part of the Great Britain dead wild bird surveillance scheme, scientific samples were collected from a small number of gulls, seabirds and waders found dead at a location in Alloa to be tested specifically for avian influenza virus.
‘Results can take up to two weeks to be reported.’
The country has seen several outbreaks of bird flu, which spreads from bird to bird through droppings, saliva and contaminated feed and water.
Cases were confirmed at a poultry farm in East Yorkshire in November, leading to all its birds being culled to contain the virus. The threat to humans is believed to be low.
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