Kylie’s yard is usually full of magpies. Now they’re dying, and she wants answers
In the last two weeks, Kylie Conroy has counted more than 30 birds that have died in her Inala backyard or been taken to the RSPCA wildlife hospital.
Kylie’s yard is usually full of magpies. Now they’re dying, and she wants answers
Kylie Conroy’s Inala backyard is normally full of magpies.
“Sometimes there can be up to 40 of them back here,” she says, standing next to her Hills Hoist with her hands on her hips, as their chortling song rings across the neighbourhood’s streets.
But earlier this month the birds started dying, seemingly at random.
Kylie Conroy has been moving the unwell birds into her backyard. Credit: Julius Dennis
“This is where I buried six of them,” Conroy says, pointing at one patch of overturned earth in the garden, then another. “I buried some more over there.”
Since December 14, Conroy has counted 31 birds who died in her yard or were taken to the RSPCA wildlife hospital in Wacol, a 10-minute drive through Brisbane’s outer south-west.
When this masthead visited on Monday, two magpies lay crumpled on the ground as another pair hung nearby, occasionally trying to rouse their mates with song.
The plastic bags are full of dead birds.Credit: Julius Dennis
Two pink plastic bags sat at the edge of the lawn, the scent of rotting animal wafting on the breeze.
Conroy said the unwell and dead birds had been found in her yard and two of her neighbours’ yards. Other neighbours have not reported issues with the birds at their places.
“My mum has lived here for 54 years, and we have a beautiful backyard, very wildlife friendly. We’ve had season after season of magpies,” Conroy said.
Since first reporting the dying birds, Conroy said her efforts to get someone to pick up their carcasses and figure out what has killed them had been stymied by bureaucracy.
A healthy bird inspects another who is unable to fly.Credit: Julius Dennis
